Glenn Murcutt is an architect ahead of his time – an architect who has spent his career creating modest, environmentally responsible buildings rooted in the climate and tradition of Australia. He has carried out his work predominantly alone, as a sole practitioner, without staff but using creative collaborations on a project-by-project basis.

Walsh House, Kangaroo Valley, NSW: 2001-05

Walsh House stands on open grassland, with its principal facade addressing a forested ridge to its north, and with its long axis directed precisely towards a large knoll of rock in the distance to its east.

Simpson-Lee House, Mount Wilson, Blue Mountains, NSW: 1988-93

Critically acclaimed, this house has been acknowledged by many as a significant project in the evolution of Murcutt’s work. It is a development of many of the ideas employed in the house at Bingie Point but concentrated and refined and the result is more austere and abstract.

Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Art Centre, Riversdale, West Cambewarra, NSW:

1996-99 Distinguished Australian artist Arthur Boyd and his partner Yvonne donated this land in the Shoalhaven River valley for use by their education foundation. Located between cultivated farmland and natural bush, the building frames views to both. It provides a large meeting hall with kitchen, bathing facilities and shared accommodation for up to 32 students.

Palm Beach House, Sydney, NSW: 2006-16

One of Murcutt’s latest houses is at Palm Beach, on a peninsula of land on the northern beaches of Sydney. The secluded, steeply sloping and heavily wooded site offers glimpses through the trees down to the water of Pittwater. The house is in a high fire-risk area and, to meet regulations, has concrete floors, a steel roof and is clad externally with black-weathered zinc. The rules required the use of toughened glass throughout, and there is provision to screen the windows in the event of bushfire.

Ball-Eastaway House, Glenorie, Sydney: 1980-83

Built for Australian abstract painter Sydney Ball, this work is situated on a hillside in a dense forest on a stream and, according to Murcutt, is environmentally friendly in that it is raised on pillars so runoff water can pass under it without creating a wetland and a dryland, as would happen if the continuity of the slope were broken.

Australian Islamic Centre, Hobsons Bay, Melbourne, Victoria: 2004-ongoing

Murcutt was approached in 2004 by the Islamic community in Newport, Melbourne, who had become aware he had chaired the jury for the Aga Kahn awards for Islamic architecture. The mosque represents a relative departure for Murcutt. This is partly because of its size but mainly because of the rich cultural context within which he has had to work, and the resultant complex program of a large mosque with sophisticated nuances between various spaces that need to be reconciled and allowed to change over time.

Magney House, Bingie Point, NSW:

1982-84On the southern coast of NSW, the site is a spectacular landscape between the ocean and western mountains, with a nearby lake to the north. It is exposed, windswept and rugged. The clients had owned the land for many years, using it for camping holidays, and were interested in a house with tent-like qualities.

Marie Short/Glenn Murcutt House, Kempsey, NSW: 1974-75/1980

On farmland in northern coastal NSW, the Marie Short House was designed in the 70s, then later bought and altered by Murcutt in 1980. The 1974-75 house plan is disarmingly simple, with two almost identical pavilions, rotated and slipped; one for sleeping, the other for living.